Friday, November 13, 2009

Egypt v Algeria - Now THIS Is A Rivalry

The 4th biggest game in the world this weekend is Egypt v Algeria, for a spot in the World Cup. (#1 & #2 are MLS semifinals, and #3 is USA friendly, of course.) And this game is an insane rivalry.

The winner of this game goes to the World Cup, while the loser goes home.

Violence has always played a part and this time is no difference. Upon arrival in Cairo yesterday the Algerian team bus was attacked by people throwing bricks and rocks, injuring several people including four players.

Algerian newspaper Ennahar has and site in English with tons of articles on the madness, from the attack to the game itself.

Egypt's leading newspaper Al Ahram is in Arabic, but a rough English translation is here. They called the attack a "freak accident".

Here is some stunning video taken inside the Algerian team bus as the attack takes place:

The Match:-Sat Nov 14Egypt v Algeria - 11:30am Central time

Incidentally, if the two teams end tied on points and goal differential, then a playoff will happen next Wed Nov 18 in Sudan.

9 Comments:

This has NOTHING to do with politics. This is purly about sports. Egyptian teams (in any sport) get treated the same when they go to Algeria. Egyptians have played the nice and took the high way for so many years. I really hope it doesn't turn into a bloodbath though.

Jass...in 2001 when Egypt came to Algeria in the final game of WCQ, Algerian fans threw bottles at Egyptian players which caused the game to stop for 35 minutes. People who live In glass houses should not throw stones

i cannot believe that ppl can try to explain and give excuses to violence without limits , it still a match football of 90 minuts but these terrible wounds between arabic will remain 90 years... unfortunatly! ( maak yal khadra) peace